


The Long Road Home

by Descended_from_Hufflepuffs



Category: Walker (TV 2021)
Genre: (Not sure if it's serious enough for that), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Gen, Hallucinations, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Insomnia, Misophonia, Mute Cordell Walker, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychogenic Mutism, Psychological Trauma, Recovering Cordell Walker, Supportive Liam Walker, THE TAGS, Therapist Micki Ramirez, Worried Liam Walker, but seriously, read the tags, read them, seriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-20
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 23:54:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30147561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Descended_from_Hufflepuffs/pseuds/Descended_from_Hufflepuffs
Summary: Cordell Walker, Texas Ranger, was undercover for 11 months. He went dark for several of them. When he finally came back online, he wasn't the same man he was when he left. What happened and how will he recover?An alternate universe exploration of Walker coming home.
Relationships: Cordell Walker & Liam Walker, Micki Ramirez & Cordell Walker
Comments: 7
Kudos: 12





	The Long Road Home

**Author's Note:**

> Hello my lovelies. Just a reminder that the tags are there for a reason. This is going to be a very, very heavy story detailing recovery from a prolonged traumatic experience and all the nasty things that go with it. There will be some happy moments but it's gonna get pretty dark so if that isn't your thing, please read something else.
> 
> If you are into this, please enjoy!

When Cordell Walker went dark while undercover, Liam waited a few weeks before he tried getting custody of August and Stella. It took over a month for the courts to decide he wasn’t in a good position to care for two teenagers. He didn’t want to think about why, or maybe he just didn’t let himself because he was more concerned about Cordell, who still hadn’t surfaced. He was a little too busy trying to convince the FBI that his brother wasn’t a crook to worry about latent homophobia in child custody court.

Liam kept up the brave face for Stella and August. No, they hadn’t heard anything yet but Cordell was a professional. He wouldn’t’ve done this without reason. Maybe he was just being cautious. He was an excellent Ranger who knew how to handle himself. They shouldn’t be so worried. Now come on kids, let’s go to school and don’t forget the soccer game on thursday!

But the months went on. One month. Two months. Three months. Four months. Five months. Every now and again they tried to reach out but heard nothing. The lies got tired and the smiles even more so. He’s pretty sure August was the only one who didn't just nod to get him to shut up; poor kid looked up to his dad too much for that. He knew Stella stopped buying it after the first month, not that she had much faith in her dad when he first left. Mom and Dad definitely stopped believing him, though they were a little harder to read.

Six months.

It took seven months for them to hear something substantial. A call came in before dawn. Liam didn’t hear about it until he got into the office; apparently it was too urgent to warrant a call to the DA. He asked around and no one could tell him what was on the call, just that it was long enough for them to get a location signal and that it sounded pretty bad. The idea of Cordell being desperate enough to break his cover like that sent a chill through Liam’s soul. There wasn’t anything else for him to do but wait. He waited seven months, he could wait another few hours.

It was almost evening when news came back. Walker had been retrieved and was on his way to the hospital. The Rodeo Kings were caught and there was enough evidence to put them all away for a long time. Liam waited until the noise died down to ask where his brother had been taken. The hospital was about an hour away but they had to go with their closest option. They told him to wait until morning, that visiting hours would be over before he got there, and he should just go home and tell his family everything was alright.

Everything was alright. He bought that. His gut told him not to, that this was too easy, too simple, that something had to be terribly wrong for Cordell to go dark for so long. But Cordell was found, they knew where he was, the crooks were caught, how bad could it really be? 

He decided to visit anyway and called home to update the family on what happened. 

When he arrived, it was late and he knew he probably wouldn't get to see him but hopefully he'd get a chance to talk to a doctor or a nurse. He told the nice woman at the front desk who he was looking for and decided not to think too much about how her face blanched when she heard the name. After verifying that Liam was, in fact, Cordell’s brother and he just wanted to speak with someone about his current condition, something Cordell gave him permission for shortly after Emily’s death, she gave him a room number and told him to wait outside for the doctor to speak with him. Liam’s heart dropped when he saw it was an ICU number. Not that he should’ve been expecting otherwise; a man doesn’t go dark for seven months without reason. 

Liam made his way to Cordell’s room. He never liked being in hospitals but being there this late, for this reason, increased his discomfort tenfold. He had no idea what he was walking into having been too excited to bother looking at photos from the scene before leaving. He had no clue what condition Cordell was in or how worried he should be. He didn’t even know what he would say to his brother if he had the chance. 

Doctor Barnett stepped out of the room just as Liam approached. He explained who he was and why he was there. The doctor looked tired and ready to sit down but he agreed to sate his curiosity.

“I can’t let you in now since we’re past visiting hours here but you’re welcome to come back in the morning, though I doubt he’ll be very social. We’ve got him under some heavy sedatives right now so his body can heal from what he went through. To be honest, with everything I saw, he’s lucky he didn’t need any surgery. He’s malnourished and dehydrated, which we’ve got him on drips for now. He has an ungodly amount of bruises and cuts and several broken bones. He also sustained a lot of blood loss. There’s also evidence of sexual assault. All of this will heal with time but what I’m most concerned about is all the mental damage he likely sustained. There’s only so much physical trauma a body can handle before it leaves permanent marks on mental stability. We’ll know more about that once he’s awake but I would recommend getting him to a therapist as soon as possible. We have excellent therapists and psychiatrists here but you’re welcome to shop around if you have someone else in mind.”

That was...a lot to take in. Logically, Liam knew his brother had to have suffered through something terrible to just drop off the map like that. But hearing it so clinically just felt...like a lot. Like too much. “When will he be awake? When can I bring his kids to come see him? When can I take him home?”

He shrugged. “He’ll wake up when the drugs wear off but we may have to put him under again depending on how he reacts. As far as visits and going home, that’ll depend on his mental state. It may be some time before he’s ready for serious visits or a change in location. If we’re going based just on physical healing, he’ll be ready to leave in about three months, give or take a few weeks. I would recommend talking to a mental health professional before you make any serious plans though, preferably someone who specializes in trauma and trauma recovery.”

Right. Right. Of course. That made the most sense. Healing took time. They just had to be patient and careful. That was more than reasonable.

After he confirmed he would be able to visit in the morning (just to see Cordell for himself), he left the hospital, still reeling a bit from the rush of the day. He drifted into autopilot on the way home, trying to think of what to say to the family. He knew everyone would be relieved that Cordell was back and alive and healing but how would he explain the rest? How much of the rest should he even tell them, especially the kids? How would they take it? How long could he hold them off from visiting? 

He was still debating all this when he finally pulled up to the family house. It was mostly dark inside and only Mom and Dad were up. Apparently August and Stella had tried to stay awake for him but they fell asleep before he got there. Good. He’d have more time to figure out how to tell them what he knew.

He told their parents what he felt comfortable talking about. Cordell was alive but seriously injured. No surgeries needed, thankfully, but he would need time to recover. It wouldn’t be too long before he made a full physical recovery but the doctor warned of a much longer mental recovery process. They’d need to start looking into therapists soon. No, he wasn’t sure when they’d be able to visit, they’d have to wait for Cordell to wake up. No, he didn’t know when Cordell would be home, it would depend on the recovery process. Yes, he was sure he wasn’t that hungry and he really just wanted to go to sleep.

It had been a long day; too long for Liam’s liking. But he couldn’t sleep. His mind still swam with questions, even more now that he’d had the drive home to think about everything. What exactly had happened to Cordell? Why did he go dark? Why did it take him so long? Why didn’t the FBI send someone in after him sooner? Why would he need to be sedated just to heal? How was he going to handle seeing his big brother, usually so strong and unbreakable, laying in a hospital bed connected to all those machines? Sure, it wouldn’t be the first time after all these years on the force but he was usually awake when it happened before. But now…. Now all Liam wanted to do was hug his big brother.

But he couldn’t. There was still a lot of work to be done before that could happen. He just needed to be patient. He was sure it wouldn’t be too long before Cordell was back up and running. The universe wouldn’t be cruel enough to take him away forever.

Right?


End file.
